Front Range Colorado - Part 1 - STR-2021-25

Monday, 2 August

After getting Sprinty settled into his nice paved pull-through site at Boyd Lake State Park, Darrell broke out the leveling blocks to raise Sprinty's left rear tires for the speed sensor surgery. The speed sensor issue (accompanied by the Three Stooges) has become more frequent, and Darrell was holding out for doing the repair somewhat near a Mercedes Urgent Care facility, just in case. And crawling underneath Sprinty on pavement was preferable to gravel or dirt.

The speed sensor replacement was not difficult. Most of the time was spent carefully cutting the dozen or more zip ties that Mercedes had used to secure the cable on its 3 foot route to its connector, and re-tieing the cables securely.

Tuesday, 3 August

Quiet day. The weather forecast at breakfast indicated little chance of rain - which proved inaccurate. We did a couple of errands, then rode the part of the Poudre River Trail despite the slight drizzle. The trail extends a total of 21 miles - we chose to turnaround at 12.5 miles.

The trail had several interpretive signs including one describing the geology of the area.

Near the Water Valley housing development, we saw what appeared to be a chainsaw carving.

After the bike ride, we picked up our Amazon purchases at a nearby Amazon locker. Handy way to get things while traveling - provided you are near a big city.

Overall, we drove almost 40 miles and Sprinty drove as normal - no issues with the speed sensor. Early indications are the sensor replacement went well.

Sprinty is back at Boyd Lake SP, this time in a different site. He will have this site for four nights.

Wednesday, 4 August

Today's activity was a hike. Using the AllTrails app, we looked for a nearby hike with a waterfall, and picked Horsetooth Falls Loop Trail near Fort Collins. Wisely, we got an early start while temperatures were still cool.

The Horsetooth Falls trail, is one of several trails in Horsetooth Mountain Park.

AllTrails described the Horsetooth Falls Loop Trail as a 2.9 mile heavily trafficked loop trail located near Fort Collins, Colorado that features a waterfall and is rated as moderate.

The trail was mostly uphill for the first half of the trail.

The scenery was very nice - it reminded us of the Ridgway area of Colorado where we were about a month ago.

We missed the turnoff for the bottom of the Horsetooth Falls, which we corrected by taking the short spur to the top of Horsetooth Falls. Except the "falls" were more of a trickle. There was not much of a vantage point to see the overall falls from the top, but you can see the flow was not much.

Upper Horsetooth Falls

In all fairness, some of the review comments indicated that the flow of the falls was seasonal. We just had hopes that the recent rains would have provided more flow in the falls.

After the hike, we went to the Benson Sculpture Garden in Loveland (https://www.sculptureinthepark.org/about-benson). The ten-acre park contains 172 pieces of sculpture on permanent display by world-renowned artists. As with most sculpture, some pieces were life-like in their detail, while others were abstract.

We then went to the Treasure Island Demonstration Garden in Windsor, CO, a place we passed on our bikes yesterday. The gardens purpose is to demonstrate plants that grow well in the area.

One of the placards was quite interesting as it described the "Three Sisters" - corn, beans and squash. Native Americans planted them together in a mound as they provide each other with physical protection and nutritional abundance.

The Three Sisters - Corn, Beans and Squash

An interesting garden - reminded Kris a little bit of the garden she did in Italy with the guidance of our landlord next door.

Thursday, 5 August

Today's activity was golf at The Olde Course @ Loveland, one of a couple of municipal courses in Loveland, CO. The Loveland municipal courses seem quite popular - the earliest tee time we could three days ago was 11am. As expected, we were paired up with Leigh and Cookie. The course was a nice layout in very good condition. Kris and I were both hitting the ball well, but struggled with the fast greens. Darrell brought his back nine game to the front nine to lead at the turn. He started the back nine with two pars, then his front nine game showed up, and he struggled to hang on to honors on the day.

Friday, 6 August

Today's activity was a bike ride on the Loveland Recreation Trail, a 22.5 mile trail can be accessed right at Boyd Lake SP.

Almost all of the trail was on concrete paved trail, with only a couple of very short sections on gravel. Along the south side, the trail follows along rivers and creeks, which offered some nice scenery.

The trail also had a number of tunnels to cross under roads, and pedestrian flashing lights at most of the other crossings. We stopped about midway at a convenient bench, and found this interesting piece of artwork.

Having such a nice bike path accessible right from the campground makes Boyd Lake State Park even more attractive as a place to stay while in visiting Loveland.

Just before sunset, we got an flash flood warning alert on our weather app. A line of thunderstorms was moving just to the west of the campground. As nature's fireworks started, we got a couple of pictures.

Saturday, 7 August

Somewhat surprising to us was to see vacant campsites on a Friday night. A re-check of the reservation system found all campsites reserved, but we had five sites at least in our loop that were vacant last night. A fifth wheel arrived about 7:30 this morning into one of the vacant sites across from Sprinty - maybe they reserved Friday and Saturday night, always planning to show up early Saturday morning as checkin isn't until 3pm. Maybe grandkids coming later? Interesting.

Today was a reposition day. We were unable to get a campsite at Boyd Lake SP for Saturday night, so we used it as an opportunity to explore another location.

We broke up the three hour drive with a few stops like the PGA Tour Superstore and Cabellas in Denver and picking up mail in Fountain, CO. The drive is likely very scenic with the Rocky Mountains to the west. However, the smoke in the or made for a smog-like haze and visibility was only a couple of miles. And what hills/mountain your could see, were muted. In fact, the smoke is so bad from the fires in California and Oregon, Colorado issued a smoke advisory (see https://www.cpr.org/2021/08/07/smoke-from-wildfires-out-west-will-cover-colorado-this-weekend-what-should-you-do/?mc_cid=87cf85f52a&mc_eid=13eed908ac) Saturday for most of the state, urging the elderly and those with respiratory issues to stay inside with the windows closed and urged all to avoid prolonged time outdoors.

Part of our early morning start was to get to Pueblo by early afternoon. The Steelworks Museum (https://www.steelworks.us/the-museum/) in Pueblo is only open for a few hours each day - 10am-noon and 1pm-3pm. We did not want to be rushed like we were at the Museum of the Mountain Mn.

The Steelworks Museum is housed in the former Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) Medical Dispensary, built in 1901. The museum features exhibits related to all facets of CF&I and related industries' impacts on the American West. CF&I was a strong force in the development of the history of Pueblo and Southern Colorado. CF&I helped to build the American west by providing affordable steel and iron to the western territories and the nation's expanding rail systems. CF&I was the first and only steel manufacturer west of the Mississippi River from its inception in 1881 until 1942. At one time CF&I was the largest private landowner and the largest employer in Colorado and with ownership of mines and mining towns operated throughout the West, the company developed the economy and life in Pueblo as well as surrounding towns in Southern Colorado.

The steel manufacturing company itself is still in operation today as Evraz Pueblo, having changed hands a number of times. Today, Evraz produces the finest rail, seamless pipe, rod and coiled reinforcing bar available.  So they say.

We spent almost an hour and a half learning about the steel industry, as well as water resources, one of their temporary exhibits on display. We were glad we allowed sufficient time to thoroughly visit the museum.

The Steelworks Park, part of the museum, had a number of industrial artifacts from the steel mill including Mine Rescue Car No. 1, a Davenport locomotive used in the Allen Coal Mine, a large ladle used for pouring steel, two coal carts, and a variety of other artifacts.

130 Ton Ladle

Our campsite for the next two nights is at Lake Pueblo State Park, just west of Pueblo, CO. The lake is very popular for water sports, and the state park has several campgrounds. We were fortunate to get a campsite for Saturday night - likely a cancellation.

Sunday, 8 August

Today's activity was golf at Desert Hawk at Pueblo West, about 20 minutes from the campground. Chosen in part because they are a Harvest Host, and we thought we would support them even if we weren't staying there.

We were paired up with Ken and Dave, both from Colorado Springs. They were nice to play with. Regrettably, we were right behind a five-some, which was frustratingly slow until the end when both Ken and Dave got tired and started hitting poorly. Both of us were hitting well, and made the turn tied up at 3 over par. We both played the back nine well, with Darrell picking up a few strokes to take honors on the day.

The course was in fantastic condition, and the greens were fast and tricky. We enjoyed no water hazards, and both managed to mostly miss the sand traps. A definite play again course.